Chapter III. On the Minister of Extreme Unction

684. • I. The Priest alone is the minister of this Sacrament. This is established: first, from the words of St. James already cited: Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the Priests of the Church, etc.; second, from the definition of the Church. For thus the Council of Trent, session 14, On Extreme Unction, canon 4: If anyone says that the Priests of the Church, whom blessed James exhorts to be brought in for anointing the sick person, are not Priests ordained by a Bishop but elders in age in any community whatsoever, and that for this reason the proper minister of Extreme Unction is not the Priest alone, let him be anathema.

II. Every Priest can validly minister that Sacrament, because the power of validly conferring it belongs to the Priest by reason of Order itself. Nevertheless, no one can licitly minister it except the Pastor of souls alone, because it pertains to the pastor to feed his sheep. But Religious who presume to minister this Sacrament without the permission of the Pastor incur ipso facto an excommunication reserved to the Pope. - Thus from the Clementine On Privileges and the Constitution of Pius IX, Apostolicae Sedis.

685. Questions. - QUESTION 1. Can any Priest minister this Sacrament by the probably presumed consent of the Pastor?

Reply. More probably, yes, because it does not appear that one must proceed with so much rigor where there is question of delegation for mere liceity, and there is no question at all of the validity of the Sacrament itself. Nevertheless, such delegation is not easily to be presumed. - St. Ligorius, no. 722. - The Salmanticenses and others, against others.

Nevertheless, if the Priest to whom administration of this Sacrament belongs is absent, or is bound by excommunication or suspension, any Priest can administer this Sacrament in a case of necessity, and indeed must do so from charity. - Scavini.

QUESTION 2. Is it a mortal sin to omit the prayers prescribed in the Ritual, or to minister without sacred vestments?

Reply to the first. Yes, because the matter is very grave. Except a case of necessity. - St. Ligorius, no. 727, and others commonly.

Reply to the second. Yes, likewise, outside necessity; but in necessity, more probably no. - Thus more commonly with St. Ligorius, no. 726, against some.

686. • QUESTION 3. Is there an obligation to minister Extreme Unction, or what is it?

Reply. Unless he is excused by some grave cause, the Pastor is bound by reason of his office, under mortal sin, to minister it to subjects dangerously sick who ask for it. - St. Ligorius, no. 729, etc. Recall what was said concerning the Sacraments in general, no. 213.

QUESTION 4. Is it a sin to minister Extreme Unction without a light, or what kind of sin is it?

Reply. It is not to be excused from venial sin unless necessity urges, both on account of the custom of the Church and on account of the reverence due to the Sacrament. - Nevertheless, it does not exceed venial sin, because a grave injury does not appear to be inflicted upon the Sacrament ¹. - St. Ligorius, no. 728, etc.

¹ Concerning this matter, only the following is contained in the Roman Ritual: The Priest... is to take care that there be prepared... likewise a wax candle, which, afterward lighted, may furnish light to him while anointing.

687. • QUESTION 5. When a sick person receives both Viaticum and Extreme Unction, which Sacrament must be administered first?

Reply. Extreme Unction must be administered after the Eucharist. Thus the Rubric of the Roman Ritual expressly establishes. - In that case the Confiteor must be recited twice. - Thus the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, February 5, 1841.

QUESTION 6. What kind of sin is it to omit the sign of the cross in the anointings?

Reply. It is only venial according to the common opinion, because grave matter is not apprehended there; but in necessity there is no sin. - St. Ligorius, no. 728.

688. • QUESTION 7. Is it a sin to confer this Sacrament without a server assisting, or what kind of sin is it; and can a woman be employed in necessity?

Reply to the first. It is not a mortal sin to employ no server, and in necessity there is no sin. - Thus the Theologians most commonly. - Indeed, according to several, there is probably no sin even outside a case of necessity. But St. Ligorius, no. 824, calls the opposite more probable.

Reply to the second. A woman is never to be employed for the office of server; and if a Cleric or layman cannot easily be found, let the Priest alone perform all the ceremonies and himself make the responses to the prayers. - Thus St. Ligorius, ibid., and others most commonly.

QUESTION 8. Can the article of death be awaited before conferring this Sacrament?

Reply. No. Indeed, the Theologians commonly teach that Pastors sin gravely who defer it until the sick person is deprived of the use of the senses and of reason: because thus the sick person lacks the more abundant fruit which he would have received if he had received the Sacrament while in possession of reason; moreover, because he is deprived of spiritual strength for resisting the demon and enduring the hardships of the disease; and also because, if the sick person were in mortal sin and had received the Sacrament while still in possession of reason, by the help of attrition he would have obtained grace, of which he is otherwise deprived; finally, because by the power of this Sacrament he could have obtained bodily health if it had been conferred upon him at a suitable time. Hence the Roman Catechism: They sin most gravely who are accustomed to await that time for anointing the sick person when, all hope of health having already been lost, he begins to be deprived of life and the senses. On Extreme Unction, no. 18.

The Pastor must remember above all that the care of the sick is not among the last parts of his office. Thus the Roman Ritual, title On the Visitation and Care of the Sick. - Wherefore Catalanus rightly says: that the Pastor is bound in justice to assist the sick of his parish, especially in the commendation of the soul, is a certain opinion approved by the unanimous consent of Theologians. And several Declarations of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, reported in the Analecta Iuris Pontificii (July 1861), agree.